Obama claims victory over Clinton in Texas

Obama supporters said he won 99 delegates to Clinton's 94, once the results of chaotic caucuses held after the primary on the evening of March four were added.

Barack Obama's White House campaign has declared victory over Hillary Clinton in their Texas nominating clash held last month -- although she won the state's primary vote.

Obama supporters said he won 99 delegates to Clinton's 94, once the results of chaotic caucuses held after the primary on the evening of March four were added.

Final confirmation will not come before Texas Democrats hold a state convention in the first week of June.

But lawmaker Lloyd Doggett, whose House of Representatives district is in Austin, said: "The Obama-Clinton match-up in Texas is now complete and there's not the slightest question about who won.

"It is unequivocal, it is 100 per cent clear, that Senator Obama won Texas and won it probably by five (delegates)," he said on a media conference called yesterday.

Texas allocates two-thirds of its total of 193 Democratic delegates by the popular vote-based primary, which Clinton won by 51 per cent to Obama's 47.

That victory, along with Clinton's win in Ohio on the same day, breathed new life into the former first lady's faltering campaign.

But in the post-primary caucuses, which were marred by charges of electoral sharp practice, Obama claimed to have pulled ahead overall in terms of delegates awarded for the Democrats' nominating convention in August.

Another Obama supporter from Texas, Representative Chet Edwards, said the Clinton campaign had declared victory prematurely.